By Paul Topping

We three train nuts, historically known as anoraks in the UK, for example, train spotters and enthusiasts, take the morning train to Avissawella. Arjune, Walter and the Pome. The town is 134 minutes by train from Colombo. With about 38 formal and informal stops, there is a station or at least a platform at most of them, with about eight stops having nothing. We now have about two hours to reach our target, so we have sandwiches and water. I was advised to bring no alcohol. We await the train at Cotta Road station, Colombo.

We start chatting to an eccentric music nut who says he has over 2,000 vinyl records. He starts singing songs, for example, by The Scorpions, a German band I'd never heard of until I came to Sri Lanka. What a lovely way to start the day!

The engine is pushing seven carriages. The carriage is clean but has no toilets, no interconnecting doors, no emergency cord and six fans that are not working. Six double external doors in our carriage are pinned wide open.

The train, S8-837, was commissioned in 2009. It is slow as we pass through the Royal Colombo Golf Club, said to be the second "Royal" in the world. It must fascinate people to see lush green acres and wonderful trees, along with funny, stressed people hitting little balls with a club.

Then we enter the urban sprawl of Colombo, with small shack homes so close to the track that if the dwellers stood in front of their properties, they would be swept away by a passing train. Then we go through coconut estates and paddy fields.

The majority of stations are colonial in style. Some look beautified with flowers and plants and are spotlessly clean. There are others that are extremely basic. We stop at only one modern station.

It's great to see the station masters standing in their white uniforms, controlling their patch.

The railway line to Avissawella was laid in 1902, but the tracks were widened over four years, with the line reopening in 1996.

Most travellers are on their phones, and the seats run down each side of the carriage, with a big gap in between. I suppose that in busy times, these trains are packed with standing passengers.

Lots of travellers are just hopping on and then off after a few stops. Our ticket from the second station to the last is in third class and costs 140 rupees.

We notice there is a lot of freight being carried on the train, but I see no freight carriages. We spot some railway traffic lights being carried into our carriage by a bunch of workers, who exit with their booty a few stations down the track.

Reaching our destination of Avissawella, the team of three chats about our options:

- Tour the town, but it doesn't look that interesting!
- Go and find some graveyards. I quickly do the online research but find no colonial sites.
- Have some beers and a curry lunch. Given the toilet situation on the train (there are none), we hold off on any food and booze and catch the train we came in on back to Colombo.

The Sri Lankan in our team failed to tell us about the location. It was the ancient Sitawaka Kingdom and a royal capital. In the late sixteenth century, the locals held off the Portuguese for a long period. A small fort still exists.

Our final station is Fort in Colombo. The first station was built in 1864, based on the Manchester station design. I have to admit I've never seen the original. Near one end of the current floating market in Colombo, there has been a sign for two decades implying that there will be a National Train Museum there.

Until then, you have to travel 83 kilometres to Kadugannawa to see a small selection of trains.

We may return to Avissawella to discover more. Sadly, Walter, the Bavarian intrepid traveller, will not be with us. Arjune's best friend died recently. His last trip, no doubt, is to go and see what's beyond the pearly gates.

See you on a train somewhere.